Life & Times Special Edition; No. 168; Young L.A.: Rage & Responsibility

<v Ruben Martinez>I'm Ruben Martinez and this is a special one hour edition of Life and Times. <v Ruben Martinez>We've gathered together youth from all over Los Angeles to discuss issues of violence, <v Ruben Martinez>race, class, justice and the future. <v Ruben Martinez>Young L.A.: Rage and Responsibility, a one hour special, next on Life and <v Ruben Martinez>Times [playful music]. <v Narrator>This program is supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation, which is dedicated <v Narrator>to the development of an informed California citizenry. <v Narrator>Special support for this program is provided by: the Los Angeles <v Narrator>County Department of Health Services, and <v Narrator>the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. <v Patt Morrison>Tonight, some 20 young adults from across L.A.

<v Patt Morrison>have joined us in the studio. While these are not the people you saw looting and rioting <v Patt Morrison>in the last few weeks, nonetheless, their families, their neighborhoods and their lives <v Patt Morrison>have been altered by the events of the last few weeks, and perhaps more than the rest of <v Patt Morrison>us, their futures are going to be dramatically changed by what has gone on. <v Hugh Hewitt>They are age 16 to 20, and we're going to ask to talk with them about the next <v Hugh Hewitt>generation, not only of the possible leadership of the city and the region, but of the <v Hugh Hewitt>possible business communities and the opportunities and the tensions that they are <v Hugh Hewitt>looking forward to or perhaps running away from over the next 10 years. <v Ruben Martinez>We're going to be asking some of the hard questions tonight also about race, and class, <v Ruben Martinez>and how cultural attitudes have informed the violence, and how also we can come together. <v Ruben Martinez>First, we're gonna take a look at a couple of the images that have defined the last year <v Ruben Martinez>in Los Angeles. Let's roll that tape now. <v Ruben Martinez>March 3rd, 1991, Rodney King, a little over a year later, <v Ruben Martinez>it's Reginald Denny at the corner of Florence and Normandie, and then <v Ruben Martinez>the entire city seems to go up in flames.

<v Ruben Martinez>Nobody's sure how far it's going to go [responder talking on radio]. <v Ruben Martinez>We're here talking with Hector Salazar. Hector, I want to ask you a direct question. <v Ruben Martinez>Those two images of violence, Rodney King on the one hand, Reginald Denny on the other, <v Ruben Martinez>was there any way that you would see a situation in which that kind of violence against <v Ruben Martinez>one or the other could possibly be justified? <v Hector Salazar>No, I couldn't see any justification for either action. <v Hector Salazar>I don't see uh a justification for Daryl Gates' actions either. <v Hector Salazar>I don't see the justification for a double standard to be applied to <v Hector Salazar>those of us who are not white and poor as opposed to those <v Hector Salazar>of us who are white and wear badges. <v Hector Salazar>I don't see a justification for a double standard either. <v Ruben Martinez>But some people have been talking about justifying both- in both cases. <v Ruben Martinez>The jury in Simi Valley seemed to say that it was all right for Rodney King to be beaten <v Ruben Martinez>the way he was, and some people have been saying that the- the truck driver also had

<v Ruben Martinez>said some things to inflame certain people and that maybe that beating was also <v Ruben Martinez>justified. Does anybody disagree with that? <v Hedyeh Melamed>No one deserves to be beaten the way Rodney King was beaten. <v Hedyeh Melamed>I feel that if our judicial system states or in some law, <v Hedyeh Melamed>it does not prove that these police officers were guilty, then obviously there's <v Hedyeh Melamed>something wrong with our judicial system, and that's where we need to solve the problems. <v Hedyeh Melamed>Because if those jurors say that, I mean, they say that it's under the law, or under <v Hedyeh Melamed>specific laws, that these police officers were not found guilty, and what they did was <v Hedyeh Melamed>basically, quote unquote all right. And obviously, then there's something wrong with our <v Hedyeh Melamed>law system, and that's where we need to change, and I think that's where the change must <v Hedyeh Melamed>begin. <v Ruben Martinez>What about some of the images that we've all seen on TV and some of our own neighborhoods <v Ruben Martinez>as well? The iss- the images of racial violence, really, right? <v Ruben Martinez>I mean, blacks and Koreans, blacks and Latinos, whites and blacks, it seems to be going- <v Ruben Martinez>leaping across from one group to another. <v Ruben Martinez>Sometimes it appeared that communities were coming together, but a lot of times we were <v Ruben Martinez>at loggerheads. Why was that happening? Why the divisions in Los Angeles?

<v Ruben Martinez>Tristen Sotomayor, where are you from? <v Tristen Sotomayor>From Cerritos. I think that um as a whole, my- at least my <v Tristen Sotomayor>generation, people my age, um are scared <v Tristen Sotomayor>of things that are different, people who are different. <v Tristen Sotomayor>They don't want to learn about new cultures. <v Tristen Sotomayor>I think that is a big stumbling block. Also, unfortunately, when you have a president, in <v Tristen Sotomayor>my opinion, who plays- who is opportunistic with race, such as a Willie <v Tristen Sotomayor>Horton ad in 1988, and then comes back last week and preaches race relations <v Tristen Sotomayor>on television, I don't think the American people are that gullible. <v Tristen Sotomayor>I think they can see through that. And I think that also creates some of the bad feelings <v Tristen Sotomayor>towards races that may not be true. <v Ruben Martinez>Have some people here- Sarah Chee, where are you from? <v Sarah Chee>I'm from um UCLA. Um let's talk about the- the images that we just saw. <v Sarah Chee>Let's talk about being beaten, maybe not physically, but let's say mentally. <v Sarah Chee>Let's- let's talk about all the people of color who have been beaten for hundreds and <v Sarah Chee>hundreds of years in this country that it has, it seems, to condone racial <v Sarah Chee>and racial prejudice just by the system, the whole system and the media that-that just

<v Sarah Chee>thrives on race- racism and like violence in the community. <v Sarah Chee>Let's talk about the system. Let's talk about being beaten. <v Ruben Martinez>Have we had here people who have felt racial discrimination, particularly themselves <v Ruben Martinez>in person? <v Rodney Prince>Well, no, not exactly. But I was going to go back to the beating. <v Rodney Prince>Um as a result, from a humanistic standpoint, the suffering of any human being can't be <v Rodney Prince>justified, especially when afflicted from the hands of another. <v Rodney Prince>But in the cases of any type of civil uprising, there are going to be casualties, and <v Rodney Prince>that's in a sense, that's how I look at what happened to Reginald Denny. <v Rodney Prince>And it's hard for me to feel any sympathy for him under that line of thinking, but in- <v Rodney Prince>from saying that he couldn't- he couldn't- he couldn't defend <v Rodney Prince>himself, but yet and still he was in a perspective where he couldn't do much about it. <v Ruben Martinez>Mhm. Michael Thomas, where are you from? <v Michael Thomas>Um I'm from Los Angeles. Um I want to real-relate what somebody said about racism between <v Michael Thomas>the different ethnic groups. Um you have here in our society, where you <v Michael Thomas>see there's hostility between each racial group and when the government doesn't step in

<v Michael Thomas>and intervene and give that healing that's needed at that time, <v Michael Thomas>you have what you saw a couple of weeks ago. <v Michael Thomas>You have the beatings, you have the discrimination. <v Michael Thomas>You have the looting of the different buildings. You have the burning down of different <v Michael Thomas>businesses because of the built tension that's within different people. <v Michael Thomas>You have the- the Hispanics, you have blacks, you have the whites that are out there <v Michael Thomas>doing these things. And it's- it's over years of all this stuff building up. <v Michael Thomas>You just can't say it's because of this, it's because of that. <v Michael Thomas>But somebody has to take the blame for it. <v Michael Thomas>And we all have to take the blame for it. It's just not- it's not a black person's fault, <v Michael Thomas>it's not a white person's fault, it's- it's all of our fault with the government behind <v Michael Thomas>all of it. <v Joe Piechowski>You can't blame the government for that though. <v Ruben Martinez>Wait a second. Joe Piechowski, where are you from? <v Joe Piechowski>I'm from- I'm a student at UCLA. We can't go around blaming the government for that. <v Joe Piechowski>What we need to do is we need to take individual responsibility. <v Joe Piechowski>It comes down to an individual on an individual basis. <v Joe Piechowski>I have to look at him and merit- and decide whether or not I feel that <v Joe Piechowski>he upholds certain standards that I believe in.

<v Joe Piechowski>And in that case, I'll respect him. If not, then he's not gonna get my respect. <v Joe Piechowski>The problem is- the problem has been, is that we get one group of people saying to <v Joe Piechowski>another group of people that we don't agre- we don't like you just because- <v Joe Piechowski>just because of the color of your skin. <v Ruben Martinez>Do you feel like you've been disrespected yourself? <v Joe Piechowski>Yes I have. <v Ruben Martinez>By people of other colors, other races? <v Joe Piechowski>Yes I have. Just- just this past week, I was on the UCLA campus and I was called a white <v Joe Piechowski>racist just because I was listening to a speech made by Congressman Bill Dannemeyer. <v Michael Thomas>Can I say something on that, um- in response to what he just said. <v Michael Thomas>Um you look at your government, you look how this government was setup. <v Michael Thomas>This government was not set up for black people to be anywhere in it. <v Michael Thomas>We were set up- it was set up where we were slaves. <v Michael Thomas>We weren't 'posed to be- we weren't here where <v Michael Thomas>we could say something, we can offer our opinions. <v Michael Thomas>We were sittin here- we were brought here as slaves, nothing more. <v Michael Thomas>And then you look at it now, 1992. Now, under the Constitution, we <v Michael Thomas>have a right. But we weren't- it wasn't setkup to where we were given that right. <v Michael Thomas>So now you have a government that's saying, well, OK, how are we going to fit these

<v Michael Thomas>people in, how are we going to, you know, work them into the system? <v Michael Thomas>How are we going to allow them to do these things without giving them them the control <v Michael Thomas>they need to really be prosperous? <v Michael Thomas>And if you look at that, you're looking at all this that's going around and you ask <v Michael Thomas>yourself, why is it happening? <v Michael Thomas>You look at- you look at the struggles of blacks, of Hispanics, of the Native Americans, <v Michael Thomas>and who is to blame? <v Ruben Martinez>Let- let's ask that question. <v Patt Morrison>Karla Diaz would like to speak to that. <v Karla Diaz>I was just saying, when he was talking about individual-ality, I mean, <v Karla Diaz>I think that we all have to take a stand, you know, not categorizing people, <v Karla Diaz>you know, black- the black- the black people or the white people, you know, like we <v Karla Diaz>cat-categorize it, you know, individuality. <v Karla Diaz>And um I think it's not a racial, you know, black, <v Karla Diaz>a racial, black thing anymore. <v Karla Diaz>OK. It's Hispanic. It's uh Korean. <v Karla Diaz>OK. And I think that we all agree that we have to make a change in this. <v Patt Morrison>How do you get to know 6 million people individually, though? <v Karla Diaz>Well, I mean, it's not like I'm saying like, OK, it's indiv- individual. <v Karla Diaz>It's like you all have to worry, you know, about yourself.

<v Karla Diaz>You know what I'm saying? It's like you have to- we have to work together, but um feed <v Karla Diaz>our individual needs. You know what I'm saying? <v Ruben Martinez>Let me ask a question of all of you. <v Ruben Martinez>Are the- the images of racial violence, you know, all these images that we see constantly <v Ruben Martinez>of black on white, brown on white or Asian crime, you know, all these hate crimes <v Ruben Martinez>that we're talking about, are they replicated also in high school and on college <v Ruben Martinez>campuses? Do we see that among youth as well? <v Ruben Martinez>Do we see that? <v Patt Morrison>Sarah Chee, I think uh from Orange County, a UCLA student. <v Sarah Chee>Yes, I am. Um I had- I wanted to get back to a point that this gentleman made, [clears <v Sarah Chee>throat] excuse me, from UCLA, also about how he felt kind of victimized <v Sarah Chee>on campus. I mean, I guess that's maybe a direct result of um maybe not a direct result, <v Sarah Chee>but a more blatant result of what has happened. <v Sarah Chee>And- and I don't mean to um again victimize you again, but <v Sarah Chee>the point is, you know um, people of color have been feeling victimized for all of their <v Sarah Chee>lives. And yet when- when the white, you know, white Caucasian people are finally feeling <v Sarah Chee>that racism directed back toward them, they're- they're standing up and saying, we've

<v Sarah Chee>been victimized. The point is, you know, racism is about an, you know, trying to- <v Sarah Chee>individual accountability is about trying to understand people around you and not just <v Sarah Chee>concentrating on your own suffering and your own victimization. <v Sarah Chee>Try to understand. And accountability is not just about individuals, it's about the <v Sarah Chee>government. Because the people in the government are the people who are racist, and they <v Sarah Chee>have the power to- to implement systems, implement programs that will <v Sarah Chee>directly affect people and that will directly affect the people that they are racist- the <v Sarah Chee>rac- the racist attitudes are against. <v Hugh Hewitt>Rubin, John Hong has a comment. <v John Hong>I agree with her. Uh but we shouldn't totally, you know, deply- uh apply <v John Hong>on the government to, you know, fix everything. <v John Hong>Government has something to do with it, but it all come back to us. <v John Hong>And, you know, the- all the looting and all the riots, you <v John Hong>know, it's lack of communication. Nobody talks. <v Patt Morrison>Thomas Hong. <v Thomas Hong>Yeah, I'm from UCLA and um I- our parents own the shop in, you know, Manchester <v Thomas Hong>and Broadway, so it was one of the first stores to get, you know, burned down and looted.

<v Thomas Hong>And what this gentleman said that, of course, the government has some something, some <v Thomas Hong>sort of a role in this, but you're talking about personal individual, you're talking <v Thomas Hong>about what the media has always portrayed, you know, the looters as hoodlums, people who <v Thomas Hong>have no morals whatsoever. But my my rage, you know, this show is about rage, my rage <v Thomas Hong>isn't, you know, toward that- those looters, towards the people who are, you know, the <v Thomas Hong>victims of this community. It's towards accountability which is lacking in our <v Thomas Hong>government. Our government has accountability to citizens. <v Thomas Hong>If the citizens are desperate enough to actually go out there and start looting, start <v Thomas Hong>burning, then whose fault is that? <v Ruben Martinez>OK. I sense there's a lot of anger, a lot of tension here. <v Ruben Martinez>People are angry at what? You're talking about accountability among elected officials, <v Ruben Martinez>perhaps, police, who else? Who are people angry at? <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>I basically think it- we need to get off the race issue because the media has- <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>has said so much, like blacks and whites and Hispanics, we need to get over all <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>the different races. It's more of social and economic problems. <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>It's not just the race.

<v Speaker>I have to dis- the- the total economic and social problems in America <v Speaker>is because of race. It's not because of anything else. <v Speaker>It's because of the race of the people who are socially and economically depressed. <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>I know. But we also- we have to stop blaming other people. <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>We have to stop blaming the government for things, because if you notice, <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>we- all we want is, I mean, even our culture or our- if <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>you want to start getting into, oh, like minorities or whatever, we have to <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>stop getting over...never mind. <v Speaker>Who controls the social programs though? <v Ruben Martinez>OK, let me ask- let me ask- let me- let me- let me frame the question here. <v Ruben Martinez>Everybody sitting together here, they use the term multicultural to talk about Los <v Ruben Martinez>Angeles, right? Well, we have a little multicultural group here. <v Ruben Martinez>Everybody's getting along more or less. Right? <v Ruben Martinez>But obviously, things, when we go back out on the street, it's not like that anymore. <v Ruben Martinez>Why does it break down like that? Where is the anger coming from? <v Michael Thomas>Years of oppression. You have years of being bound, kept back, and then you go, <v Michael Thomas>it's not a racial thing. It's not a racial thing. But it really is a racial thing. <v Michael Thomas>I mean, if you can't get a job or you've been trying to get a job, in some ways the

<v Michael Thomas>system is set up to keep you back each step you take. <v Michael Thomas>But if you take three steps forward-. <v Ruben Martinez>Okay, let's- let's get some other- let's get- <v Hugh Hewitt>Rodney Prince over here, Ruben. <v Rodney Prince>The government has actively participated in passive racism for hundreds and hundreds of <v Rodney Prince>years. It's a conspiratory silencing and it goes on and we- we've- all this time, <v Rodney Prince>we've perpetuated it and we've let it go on and it's- it's erupted. <v Rodney Prince>And this is what this is all about. It is about race. <v Hugh Hewitt>Back row. <v Ruben Martinez>Back in the back row. William Pedranti, where are you from, William? <v William Pedranti>Uh I'm a student at USC. Uh I would disagree with that. <v William Pedranti>I don't doubt that for hundreds of years that there has- or in the past there's been <v William Pedranti>racism of all boundaries going black, white, Korean, Asian, Chinese, all over the world. <v William Pedranti>And I don't- I don't doubt it exists, but I think that if we keep looking back at what <v William Pedranti>happened and- and- <v Ruben Martinez>So what are you feeling right now with all these voices that you're hearing, what is your <v Ruben Martinez>response, emotional response to it? Do you feel like you're being cornered here? <v William Pedranti>Well, yeah, I do. I think that when a lot of people immediately assume- they say racism, <v William Pedranti>that we've been held oppressed, I think they look at the majority of the people in this <v William Pedranti>country, ethnicities are like mine, Caucasian, and they immediately assume that we're <v William Pedranti>being oppressed. And if there's true racism going on, if there's whites and there's this

<v William Pedranti>conspiracy of true racism going on, in essence, whites, if- if we- if <v William Pedranti>we're- if all whites or a majority of conspiracy controlling government are white <v William Pedranti>supremacists, then they would be against blacks, Koreans, Chinese, Jewish, I mean, it <v William Pedranti>just goes down the line. How come there's so many successful Jewish? <v William Pedranti>How come the Koreans can start their own stores and turn out to be really successful? <v William Pedranti>How come- how come- hold on. <v Ruben Martinez>Okay. Okay. Okay. Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. <v Hugh Hewitt>Right behind you, Ruben. <v Ruben Martinez>Peter Kim, standing right here. <v Peter Kim>Okay, I'd like to comment on that. The government has suppressed the minorities. <v Peter Kim>Okay. They have made us stay where we are, our lower class. <v Peter Kim>I mean, we're poor. I mean, we can't move up the ladder. <v Peter Kim>Maybe some of us can, but most of us can't. <v Peter Kim>We're suppressed in neighborhoods that are low economy, you know, they haven't let us <v Peter Kim>move up the metropolitan ladder. <v Peter Kim>So that's how- that's how I see it. <v Patt Morrison>I've heard a lot about blaming government. But one of the things that adults are saying <v Patt Morrison>this week is what about ourselves? Where do we step in and have a responsibility? <v Ruben Martinez>Jason Serber. <v Hugh Hewitt>Sperber. <v Ruben Martinez>Sperber. <v Jason Sperber>Um what we have to remember is, I mean look, we're talking about blaming <v Jason Sperber>government or blaming this group or blaming that group.

<v Jason Sperber>We've been scapegoating some group for so long that it's just normal <v Jason Sperber>to us now. So when one group says, oh, don't blame us or don't <v Jason Sperber>blame this or don't blame that, we have to remember, OK, what are we going to do then? <v Jason Sperber>We have to move past the scapegoating mentality, this us versus them thing. <v Jason Sperber>And okay, if it's not gonna be a black versus white thing or <v Jason Sperber>a brown versus white thing, well, or a minority versus <v Jason Sperber>government thing, we have to move past this us versus them mentality and move into a we. <v Ruben Martinez>How do we do that, though? Javier Munoz from Hollenbeck junior high school? <v Ruben Martinez>We were talking yesterday at the school about how you felt about how the media was <v Ruben Martinez>portraying people and how people looked at brown faces and black faces on the TV and how <v Ruben Martinez>do you feel about that? What do people see when they see your face? <v Ruben Martinez>How do you feel about that? <v Javier Munoz>Oh, what people do is they stereotype everything. <v Javier Munoz>They start categorizing everything. <v Javier Munoz>They think uh because there- there is black skin <v Javier Munoz>color, white, light skin color, all kind of skin color, and you see it and you say, <v Javier Munoz>well, this person's kind of black, so this- they- they fit into this stereotype,

<v Javier Munoz>and this person's kind of brown, they fit into this stereotype. <v Javier Munoz>But you have to stop that because everyone is like an <v Javier Munoz>individual. And it's hard to see millions of people as <v Javier Munoz>individuals. But what you have to do is keep an open mind and <v Javier Munoz>whoever you meet, keep it- keep an open mind and look- see them <v Javier Munoz>as they are not the whole entire group. <v Hugh Hewitt>Time to move on to our second segment. We're going to show a piece of tape right now that <v Hugh Hewitt>looks directly at some of the lawlessness that ran rampant in Los Angeles two weeks ago, <v Hugh Hewitt>and we're going to comment on that after we roll this tape. <v Hugh Hewitt>Let's- let's hit this. <v Voice>The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is now in full mobilization. <v Chris Blatchford>We have a traffic jam of looters, actually a traffic jam of looters making their <v Chris Blatchford>way out of this Fedco, really quite an unbelievable sight.

<v Chris Blatchford>Four or five minutes ago, people started breaking through the glass windows, breaking <v Chris Blatchford>through the glass door. Now you can see people- look at- you can see one guy rolling out <v Chris Blatchford>a whole couch, just helping themselves. <v Hugh Hewitt>The looting that went on was an emblem of general lawlessness that ran rampant in the <v Hugh Hewitt>city for 40 to 78 hours. It was uh under the cry originally of no <v Hugh Hewitt>justice, no peace. Troy Buckner, you are wearing a t-shirt. <v Hugh Hewitt>No justice, no peace, no future. What's that mean? <v Troy Buckner>That means if you don't give us justice, we won't give you peace. <v Troy Buckner>Therefore, there won't be no future. <v Hugh Hewitt>What is justice? <v Troy Buckner>Justice is to be treated equally with respect, like most people deserve to be treated. <v Hugh Hewitt>And who's going to make the decision about what justice is Tawana, are you gonna live by <v Hugh Hewitt>the decisions of the courts? <v Tawana Caldwell>Um well, I just feel that I hope the courts make a ri- a justified decision on the topics <v Tawana Caldwell>and the things that have been going on, because without that justice in the government, <v Tawana Caldwell>we are not gonna have no peace on the streets. <v Hugh Hewitt>Is anyone here willing to defend the jury in the Rodney King case? <v Hugh Hewitt>As an exercise of justice? Or is this generation just going to stand back and say that

<v Hugh Hewitt>jury system didn't work for us? Joe. <v Joe Piechowski>I'll justify the jury. The fact of the matter is, is that the most of the people in Los <v Joe Piechowski>Angeles and around the nation have only seen 81 seconds of videotape. <v Hugh Hewitt>Okay, you said, of course you will. What's that mean? <v Hugh Hewitt>What's of course you will mean? <v Troy Buckner>What's of course you will? What's of course you will is of course you will, look at you. <v Troy Buckner>You will never go through what Rodney King went through. <v Troy Buckner>But I bet you you sympathize for Reginald Daring- Garing. <v Tawana Caldwell>And he will never experience what the children experience, of the quote unquote thugs who <v Tawana Caldwell>um did the looting. He'll never experience what those children, what those adults <v Tawana Caldwell>or anybody feel who went through the looting, who live in the environment and just who <v Tawana Caldwell>take part in- in what's going on. You'll never understand how they feel. <v Hugh Hewitt>And does that mean- to be- to have just verdicts, the jury in that case has <v Hugh Hewitt>to be black Americans? <v Tawana Caldwell>The um- Rodney King, Rodney King got beat. And then you have this man, Denny, he got <v Tawana Caldwell>beat. Rodney King, they- oh it's nothing, they um clown about that all day. <v Tawana Caldwell>You know, show the tape and clown the clown. <v Tawana Caldwell>But soon as um this man Denny get beat, it's a whole different story.

<v Tawana Caldwell>They have to um take it to al- take it to the court, take it to the judge. <v Tawana Caldwell>It's already known that they will be prosecute- prosecuted and all that stuff. <v Tawana Caldwell>But a child could get- a black- a um African-American child could get killed <v Tawana Caldwell>and, you know, it's no biggie. <v Hugh Hewitt>Let me ask any of you. Wait one second. Wait one second. <v Hugh Hewitt>Does anyone- <v Patt Morrison>You have to say that Joe would- Joe would point out that 100 years ago it was the Poles <v Patt Morrison>who were getting the crap beaten out of them by the Russians. <v Patt Morrison>Is this all cyclical? Does everybody's turn come? <v Patt Morrison>Is that what this is about? <v Hugh Hewitt>Hedyeh. <v Hedyeh Melamed>I just wanna say no one has a right to be beaten. <v Hedyeh Melamed>No matter if they're African-American, Latino, whatever, no one has the right to be <v Hedyeh Melamed>beaten. And the message that it's signaling out to people is saying that police <v Hedyeh Melamed>have the authority to beat someone. They- they- it's just send out- [another student <v Hedyeh Melamed>speaks]. <v Hugh Hewitt>To beat minor- Okay. Let me ask this question. <v Hugh Hewitt>Forget the Rodney King ver- verdict. Forget- forget that verdict for a minute and the <v Hugh Hewitt>King uh police trial. <v Hugh Hewitt>Ask yourself and I want to know, does anyone respect the law generally in this audience? <v Hugh Hewitt>[all begin speaking] Tristen. <v Tristen Sotomayor>Of course I'm gonna respect the law. You know, we're taught as- as Americans to look up <v Tristen Sotomayor>to these people. And when you see them on television beating a man senseless, almost

<v Tristen Sotomayor>killing him, then what- what- what are young children, younger than us, supposed to <v Tristen Sotomayor>think? <v Hugh Hewitt>What about the looting? Did that evidence a general non-respect for the law? <v Hugh Hewitt>Thomas Hong. <v Thomas Hong>Let me sm- um, we're talking about just one specific case here, but when we're- when I'm <v Thomas Hong>talking about no justice in our community, I'm talking about the lack of education in <v Thomas Hong>south central L.A. I'm talking about lack of housing, that's a social services. <v Thomas Hong>I'm not just talking about one's case here. <v Thomas Hong>You know, when we're going out there and we're rallying, we're protesting, we're <v Thomas Hong>protesting about all injustice in our community. <v Thomas Hong>That includes everything. That's why a lot of the looters, maybe they not- might not know <v Thomas Hong>what the Rodney King case was all about, but they sure know what was happening in their <v Thomas Hong>community. <v Hugh Hewitt>Ruben, you- you did a class this week where the general consensus on the police was <v Hugh Hewitt>what? <v Ruben Martinez>Negative. Very negative. In East Los Angeles and ?inaudible? <v Ruben Martinez>junior high school, Karla Diaz and Javier Munoz, Carla was sitting right there in front <v Ruben Martinez>of you, Hugh. Uh what is the view of the community about the police in East L.A.? <v Karla Diaz>Well, I mean, like um this gentleman said, <v Karla Diaz>um you don't know- I- like they were saying, if you trust the police, right.

<v Karla Diaz>You don't know, like if you see a policeman, if- if he's going to help you or <v Karla Diaz>if he's gonna, you know, treat you bad, or say something bad, or he's gonna beat you, you <v Karla Diaz>know? <v Hugh Hewitt>Do we need the police, Karla? <v Karla Diaz>Um well, right now, I'm not sure. <v Hugh Hewitt>Does anyone think we need the police? <v Hector Salazar>We need police to a certain extent, but we do not need police to the extent that we have <v Hector Salazar>them. We have more cops in our community and more crime in our community <v Hector Salazar>than any place else in any community in the city. <v Hector Salazar>How can you have more cops and more crime in the same community? <v Hector Salazar>They have to be corrupt. They have to be in cahoots with the criminal themselves. <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>Because- because everything- if a policeman does anything, they get prosecuted <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>or you're taking the rights away from the police, and so therefore, when all this- the <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>looting went on, they had to back out, because if they did anything, people there would <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>[audience erupts] be suing- <v Hugh Hewitt>Wait one second. Wait one second, Sara Chee. <v Sarah Chee>OK. When- when you have the rioting going on in the streets of L.A. <v Sarah Chee>and a- a police chief that waits until the rioting is out of control to send their police <v Sarah Chee>in there, of course, they're going to be scared out of their wits.

<v Sarah Chee>You know, what do you expect? You know, yeah. So let- let's talk about, you know, what- <v Sarah Chee>what was it- what was the role of police? <v Sarah Chee>You know what it was Daryl Gates doing at a fundraising dinner until for about half an <v Sarah Chee>hour after the rioting started- <v Hugh Hewitt>OK. Wait a second. Let's ask this then. <v Hugh Hewitt>We don't respect the jury verdict. We don't respect the police in this audience. <v Hugh Hewitt>Does anyone respect anything? How bout political leaders? <v Hugh Hewitt>Any political leaders this week that you respect? <v Speaker>No. Not even our black leaders. <v Speaker>They- they're not really taking a stand and they're not really helping our community. <v Joe Piechowski>Joe, you went to a Dannemeyer rally, is that who you respect? <v Joe Piechowski>Yes, I respect Congressman Dannemeyer. He has principles that he believes in and he <v Joe Piechowski>upholds those prince- <v Michael Thomas>What principles are those? <v Hugh Hewitt>Well, Michael, let me ask you, who do you respect? <v Hugh Hewitt>Mayor Bradley? <v Michael Thomas>No, I don't respect Mayor Bradley. <v Hugh Hewitt>Does anyone respect the mayor in this crowd? You're all Los Angelinos. <v Audience>[speaking together] <v Troy Buckner>I don't respect Uncle Tom Bradley because he's a black man. <v Troy Buckner>I don't respect him because he's a black man and he doesn't come out and he doesn't speak <v Troy Buckner>for our people. <v Hugh Hewitt>How about Councilman Mike Hernandez, who impressed the three of- the three hosts here. <v Speaker>No, but I must say, Congresswoman Maxine Waters has been the voice for the black

<v Speaker>community and she is trying her best, her very best. <v Hugh Hewitt>OK. Let me ask you this. We don't have any political leaders. <v Hugh Hewitt>You don't respect the police, you don't respect the jury verdict, and you're suspicious <v Hugh Hewitt>of the law. Where are you, this crowd, going to get your moral values from? <v Hugh Hewitt>Where are you going to develop that? What is- what makes you tick? <v Hugh Hewitt>Tawana? <v Tawana Caldwell>Um I don't know what make us tick now because everybody is lost. <v Tawana Caldwell>Well, our generation is lost. I feel- <v Hugh Hewitt>What about church? <v Tawana Caldwell>I'm not sure about church because I don't- I don't go to church, but I feel that the only <v Tawana Caldwell>thing that will bring us to better is education. <v Hugh Hewitt>What about church? And then we'll get to education. <v Michael Thomas>We- we do need- we need the morals. We need the ethics. <v Michael Thomas>We need some way to govern ourselves. We need some rule of- some role of conduct to guide <v Michael Thomas>us. That's what's keeping me where I am. That's why I wasn't out looting, because I had a <v Michael Thomas>sense of control within me. <v Hugh Hewitt>And where did that come from? <v Michael Thomas>It came from my mother raising me within the church. <v Hugh Hewitt>The family. Rosario. <v Rosario Gutierrez>Well I- for me, the church is very important. I have a very strong faith in it. <v Rosario Gutierrez>But I think that there's- just- we've been talking about individualism. <v Rosario Gutierrez>I think there's a basic inconsistency with democracy in the institutions that are

<v Rosario Gutierrez>alive today in this country. It's not- it's incompatible. <v Rosario Gutierrez>And we talk about religion and we talk about education and it seems like there's no <v Rosario Gutierrez>foundation for it. There's so much [sighs], like, <v Rosario Gutierrez>I want to get to the education topic because that's- I think that's really important, <v Rosario Gutierrez>that's where we have to start from. <v Hugh Hewitt>Speak to it. <v Rosario Gutierrez>You talk about not having any more leaders. We talk about not having anything. <v Rosario Gutierrez>Well, to me it seems like it's time for a new beginning and it's a good <v Rosario Gutierrez>time to begin because we have nothing. <v Rosario Gutierrez>Education is so important and we talk about justice, well justice is having <v Rosario Gutierrez>equal education, equal opportunity. There is nothing. <v Rosario Gutierrez>I go to school and I- I- I- when I work with the children that I work <v Rosario Gutierrez>with, I see that there's 42 kids in the class. <v Rosario Gutierrez>A teacher can't handle all of them. There's just basic inconsistencies. <v Rosario Gutierrez>Even with the um with the level of education, how much this child is given versus <v Rosario Gutierrez>how much child- <v Hugh Hewitt>Let me ask the mom in the audience. Is she gonna get a good education? <v Hugh Hewitt>Teri, is Isis gonna get what she needs?

<v Teri Martin>Well I don't pl- not in a public school, not in a public school, and I-. <v Hugh Hewitt>In Los Angeles? <v Teri Martin>Not in Los Angeles or California as a whole. <v Teri Martin>I plan on sending her to a private school where she'll be raised in a church environment. <v John Hong>See I think ?inaudible? in the future, if it- if the education is the same as right now, <v John Hong>because in school I've been called almost every name that could be called for <v John Hong>a Korean: gook, chink, ?nip?. <v John Hong>I mean, for godsake, if it's same thing as in the future, she's- <v John Hong>she's gonna, you know, be difficult and she's gonna grow up to be the same in the time <v John Hong>will be harder. <v Hugh Hewitt>?inaudible? it that values education in school. <v Hugh Hewitt>Let me go back to Peter Kim. <v Peter Kim>I am a Catholic and uh the- the church has given me morals and standards to live <v Peter Kim>by. And I wasn't out there looting. And I know many of you guys haven't been out there <v Peter Kim>looting. <v Ruben Martinez>And Peter, you don't feel that in the schools that you've gotten that? <v Peter Kim>Well in the- of course, I feel the schools have helped me out a lot. <v Peter Kim>And I think what we have to do is put more funds into the school. <v Peter Kim>And why is it that we're limited to just- just Spanish and French and Latin in high <v Peter Kim>school? Why can't it be, what, Korean, Japanese? <v Peter Kim>Why do we have to wait till college to experience these different language and cultures?

<v Hugh Hewitt>William Pedranti, you're- you're nodding your head no. <v William Pedranti>Uh a couple of things he says. I think the education and family values ?inaudible? <v William Pedranti>some other people tie on together. Uh first off, I think that the government has failed <v William Pedranti>us when it comes to education. In the state, I think that public education has completely <v William Pedranti>failed us and that I think it will continue to be because I honestly believe that- that <v William Pedranti>the government, when it was set up, that it wasn't set up to be a perfect government and <v William Pedranti>provide all these services. And I don't think the way the government's set up, it can <v William Pedranti>provide a quality education. And I think one of the reasons, excuse me, one more second, <v William Pedranti>one of reasons why it can't is because- because well, there's so much money is wasted. <v William Pedranti>And two, is I think where the family values ties in is if you look at a lot of these <v William Pedranti>schools, why the dropouts are so rates, why there's over 60000 cases of violent <v William Pedranti>crimes on campuses, why there's drugs, why the New York City's ki- kids in these- in <v William Pedranti>these slum schools have to go through metal detectors to get in their classes, does it- <v William Pedranti>it isn't the education's fault. <v William Pedranti>It's the family's fault where they can't control their kids, and their- <v Hugh Hewitt>Thomas Hong. Thomas Hong. <v Thomas Hong>Let me response to this. <v Thomas Hong>From the inception of this nation, the educational system was favoring white Americans,

<v Thomas Hong>right? When you're talking about the lack of education, you are saying- it <v Thomas Hong>starts with a family, right? You're talking about a history of oppression and how can <v Thomas Hong>they, you know, completely wiped that away and say, okay, let's start over. <v Thomas Hong>Let's move to Beverly Hills, where they have a- a better education system. <v Thomas Hong>They cannot. They're forced to stay there, where there's no money in there, no money <v Thomas Hong>funded by the government. And whose fault is that? <v Hugh Hewitt>Tristen. Go to- go back to Tristen here. <v Tristen Sotomayor>?inaudible? the difference between 1965 and 1992, when you look at both of these <v Tristen Sotomayor>situations, the same problems keep coming up. <v Tristen Sotomayor>Does anyone wonder why they keep coming up? Because the social conditions, they keep <v Tristen Sotomayor>repeating themselves. This country loves the quick solutions. <v Tristen Sotomayor>Death penalty, throw them in jail. <v Tristen Sotomayor>Don't rehabilitate, don't reeducate. When we keep going down that road, these things <v Tristen Sotomayor>will keep coming up. <v Hugh Hewitt>Michael, you- you wanted to say something? <v Michael Thomas>Yes. Bush just left Los Angeles, right, and he's talking about the Band-Aids that he's <v Michael Thomas>going to put over Los Angeles. The school board's talking about cutting back 14 days out <v Michael Thomas>of the school year so they can cut the budget even more. <v Hugh Hewitt>But you get to go longer, they said. So it'll all wash out.

<v Hugh Hewitt>Do you buy that? <v Michael Thomas>But it doesn't- it doesn't work like that. You can't- <v Hugh Hewitt>I know that. <v Tawana Caldwell>?inaudible? that's too much time for somebody to go on a vacation for two months, and then try to <v Tawana Caldwell>go back to school and graduate. <v Hugh Hewitt>Hector. One sec. <v Hector Salazar>We were given a lack of values education in school. <v Hector Salazar>We were taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America. <v Hector Salazar>And if he discovered America, then I can discover your car in the parking lot, OK. <v Hector Salazar>He didn-. We didn't do anything- they didn't do anything in the streets that Christopher <v Hector Salazar>Columbus didn't do. So how can you steal from a thief? <v Hugh Hewitt>Eva. <v Eva Wilczynski>I believe it- it all has to do with your families. <v Eva Wilczynski>I mean, the looting. Parents going out there with their kids, I mean, showing them. <v Eva Wilczynski>You saw on the news little kids walking out with shopping carts [everyone erupts]. <v Teri Martin>Most of these people who broke into these stores were grabbing clothes and diapers and <v Teri Martin>food for their kids. They were not stealing just because they can steal- <v Hugh Hewitt>Do believe that? Do you really believe that? Teri, I know some people were doing that. <v Hugh Hewitt>But do you really believe it? <v Teri Martin>Yes because a store- a store up the street from my house was looted and I watched these <v Teri Martin>people walk out with clothes and food for their- their kids. <v Hugh Hewitt>Joe.

<v Michael Thomas>You gotta look at the economic factor that plays a big role in this. <v Michael Thomas>You looking to all these people that live in these low income family, these housing <v Michael Thomas>projects. And then you get, there's a opportunity where you can have certain things. <v Michael Thomas>And all this rioting is going on and all the looting is taking place. <v Michael Thomas>And if you need it, you're going to go get it. <v Hugh Hewitt>So in other words- so in other words- some ki- hold on a second. Okay. <v Troy Buckner>Even if you don't need it, this- this capitalist system is constantly showing what you <v Troy Buckner>have to have, what you've got to have. You got to have these 150 dollar tennis shoes. <v Troy Buckner>You've got to have this VCR. You've got to have this nice TV. <v Troy Buckner>But, you know, on the income that you make, you cannot get this stuff. <v Troy Buckner>All of a sudden, one day it's free. <v Troy Buckner>So you go and get it. <v Hugh Hewitt>You go for it. Annalisa do you have a comment on that. <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>Um I really think that the- I mean, he is right on everything like that. <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>When you have a society that says you have to have this, you have to have that, when you <v Annalisa Lajeunesse>have the opportunity, you would go and get it. <v Hugh Hewitt>Javier, do you just go and get it? Are there no values out there that say it's not yours <v Hugh Hewitt>so don't take it? <v Javier Munoz>Well, at times, morals were lost, but then they were gained back. <v Javier Munoz>Some- a lot of people returned stuff that they stole <v Javier Munoz>or stole. But um- what I was gonna say. <v Javier Munoz>What- this came at a time where there was a lot of unemployment

<v Javier Munoz>and like he said, you know, if you don't have something <v Javier Munoz>and you really need it, and they were stealing clothes and food. <v Javier Munoz>They were stealing our food and they didn't have anything in their homes to eat. <v Hugh Hewitt>Wait, Sarah's got the mic, I'll get to you Michael. <v Sarah Chee>Okay, I just want to talk about the role of the media in terms of the looting. <v Sarah Chee>When you're- when you have a couple of million people standing in front of a TV watching, <v Sarah Chee>watching these man say, well, I'm standing in front of this store, there's no police <v Sarah Chee>stopping this looting. Of course, the average American is going to say, hey, this is <v Sarah Chee>free. Why don't I go and get it, too? And it wasn't just the blacks and just Latinos, as <v Sarah Chee>the news portrayed it. There was- I know there was some frat people out there, too, <v Sarah Chee>white, frat people coming from the rich schools like S.C., going and stealing radios <v Sarah Chee>and TVs. OK. So it wasn't- it wasn't just the blacks and the Latinos. <v Hugh Hewitt>Okay, Michael. <v Michael Thomas>I'm not trying to justify the looting, but you have to understand the reason behind <v Michael Thomas>the looting. I mean, I'm not saying it's all right and it's not all right. <v Michael Thomas>But for me to say that, I have to at least understand why these people are out doing this

<v Michael Thomas>thing. And unless you can understand why people react a certain way, you really have no <v Michael Thomas>comment and no real opinion that can stand. <v Hugh Hewitt>Jason, where is the next- where's this generation going to develop the values? <v Hugh Hewitt>I mean, is it there? Do these people reflect the values of this generation in Los <v Hugh Hewitt>Angeles? <v Jason Sperber>OK. Look, how many hours a week do you spend in school and how many hours <v Jason Sperber>a week do you spend with your family? Look at the difference- I- a gentleman over here <v Jason Sperber>said that public education is- is failing us. <v Jason Sperber>Well, private education isn't necessarily all that better. <v Jason Sperber>I mean, public education is failing us because we don't have the resources. <v Jason Sperber>We don't have the books. We don't have the teachers. <v Hugh Hewitt>Go ahead. Tawana, you're shaking your head. <v Tawana Caldwell>Um, about the education. I feel okay, now, we're- you know, we need to go back to the <v Tawana Caldwell>baby. So we had this baby here. She's not gonna have no park to go to. <v Tawana Caldwell>She's not gonna have a nursery or, you know, something that's not so expensive. <v Tawana Caldwell>You go on to white areas or suburban areas and it's a lot of parks, it's a lot of <v Tawana Caldwell>schools. The schools have all kind of programs for they elementaries, for they babies.

<v Tawana Caldwell>They have a way advantage over our children in South Central or in Los Angeles, period. <v Tawana Caldwell>And I need- <v Hugh Hewitt>Any answer to that, Peter Kim. <v Peter Kim>Um the thing is, okay, you look at the looters and you see what are they doing, okay. <v Peter Kim>You see them taking the things that people have been working, like the Korean families <v Peter Kim>when they own liquor stores, they've been working for years. <v Peter Kim>They come to America with a few- few dollars, maybe, you know, and they worked for years <v Peter Kim>and years to build that foundation, to have a nice- to- to live that American dream. <v Hugh Hewitt>But does anyone here respect the work that the Korean-American merchants put in? <v Hugh Hewitt>John, well. <v John Hong>My father came here as for a dream, okay. <v John Hong>The dream that says a lower class can make money and be in the upper class or in the <v John Hong>middle class. When we came here, we got totally opposite. <v John Hong>There were people racist against us. They were calling us ?nip?, chinks, and the- even <v John Hong>Mexicans, even black and white. <v John Hong>They were all racist. We have all races inside us. <v John Hong>Okay. <v Hugh Hewitt>Michael. <v Michael Thomas>I respect Koreans as people. I respect their way of coming over and working as <v Michael Thomas>a team, coming over, working together.

<v Michael Thomas>But when you sit here, and you have all these businesses and you don't see not one <v Michael Thomas>black person or one Hispanic in there working. <v Michael Thomas>There's a problem. You come in the black commu- and I'm not saying what you're doing is <v Michael Thomas>wrong. But I'm saying understand the rage. <v Michael Thomas>Understand why there's discomfort in the black community. <v Hugh Hewitt>Thomas. <v Patt Morrison>Thomas Hong's family has a store on Manchester. <v Thomas Hong>Yeah, I understand the rage that's going on in the neighbor- because I work there. <v Thomas Hong>You know, on my part time, you know, for myself, I work there. <v Thomas Hong>I see the rage. I see the poverty firsthand. <v Thomas Hong>You know, I'm not just talking about- about images on TV. I know what you're talking <v Thomas Hong>about, my brother. But, you know, we have to understand, you know, there are things <v Thomas Hong>that, you know, make us go in there. We're not there because we love to be there. <v Thomas Hong>You know, of course, we would like to- our parents would like to be professional. <v Thomas Hong>Okay, it's the cheapest. We're all poor working class people. <v Hugh Hewitt>Okay, Hector. <v Thomas Hong>Don't think of us as the people with, you know, all the money, with all the political <v Thomas Hong>power, cause we have zip. <v Hugh Hewitt>Hector. <v Hector Salazar>If you wanna look for the underlying reason why so many Korean businesses were hit during <v Hector Salazar>the rebellion, and I call it a rebellion, it was a people's war, uh <v Hector Salazar>I feel it is because basically the people of the community resent

<v Hector Salazar>uh not controlling the economics of their community. <v Hector Salazar>That's the basic problem as well as they resent being under scrutiny immediately <v Hector Salazar>as a black or Latino person walking through the door, being followed up and down your <v Hector Salazar>market. You know, we resent that. <v Hector Salazar>And that's what exploded. <v Peter Kim>OK. <v Hugh Hewitt>Peter Kim. <v Peter Kim>OK. Throughout the years, when you look at the media and you see um a Korean store owner <v Peter Kim>get shot from a Hispanic or an African-American or whoever, right, they're conditioned. <v Peter Kim>They are conditioned to feel, you know, not hatred, but fear towards Hispanics <v Peter Kim>and the Africa- uh Afro-Americans. <v Peter Kim>So what are they supposed to do? <v Hugh Hewitt>Exit question [everyone talking]. Exit question. <v Hugh Hewitt>Exit question, before I go to the next segment, uh Rodney, real quick. <v Hugh Hewitt>Go ahead. <v Rodney Prince>That fear should be addressed to the- the system that allows that- that allows that to go <v Rodney Prince>on and not to the people that it-. <v Hugh Hewitt>OK. Exit question. Who here- <v Tawana Caldwell>-ever since we been here. Should we fear them? But they- we supposed to um look up to <v Tawana Caldwell>them. <v Hugh Hewitt>One second Sarah, we're gonna move-. <v Tawana Caldwell>They supposed to protect us. But they've been whooping on our people ever since we've <v Tawana Caldwell>been here. So how should we feel?

<v Hugh Hewitt>We're going to move to another segment. <v Hugh Hewitt>Does anyone here understand- does anyone here respect democratic capitalism <v Hugh Hewitt>as a way? Does anyone like the way that this country runs? <v Hugh Hewitt>Eastern Europe's in ashes. It's worse than Los Angeles. <v Patt Morrison>All right, Sarah, quickly. <v Sarah Chee>I just want to refer back, because I think this is something that needs to be cleaned up. <v Sarah Chee>OK. I'm not saying that Korean Americans, I don't think that they're justified in their <v Sarah Chee>racism. Because I admit it, there are a lot that are racist. <v Sarah Chee>OK. I'm not saying that all Korean Americans are racist, because they're not. <v Sarah Chee>You can't generalize. And I also want you to understand why they're racist. <v Sarah Chee>You know, they come over here from from Korea. They don't speak that much English. <v Sarah Chee>They watch media and look at how media portrays black and Latinos. <v Sarah Chee>You know, they're all- they're all robbers on TV. <v Sarah Chee>They're all rapists. [audience responds] OK, I understand. <v Sarah Chee>I understand. But also, I'm not justifying- <v Hugh Hewitt>Very quickly, Troy. We're gonna go to Patt now. <v Troy Buckner>Democratic- democratic capitalism, you've got to understand, capitalism needs somebody to <v Troy Buckner>exploit. If there's no one to exploit, there will be no capitalism. <v Troy Buckner>There will be no rich. And those that are getting exploited are people of color. <v Hugh Hewitt>Very quickly, anyone here believe that the media did a good job? <v Michael Thomas>The- the media did a terrible job. They did a terrible job. <v Hugh Hewitt>On that note, Patt, you're the media. Welcome to the Los Angeles Times. <v Patt Morrison>Thank you very much. We've felt and heard some of the rage and anger that are separating

<v Patt Morrison>us, and that's pretty hard to take. What's an even harder task is cobbling together the <v Patt Morrison>future. We're looking at a tape that's coming up in a moment about the morning after, and <v Patt Morrison>then we're going to talk about the longer range future. <v Patt Morrison>Could we see that tape, please? <v Man>You got to start somewhere. You know how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. <v Man>Well, we saw everyone almost, you know, say come on down and help us out. <v Man>We were watching on TV this morning. <v Man>My wife said let's go, so we piled the kids in the car and here we are. <v Clara Lake>I was very upset with the verdict as I think everyone was. <v Clara Lake>And I wanted to do something. And this seemed to be the thing to do. <v Patt Morrison>All of you were probably 8 or 10 years old when the Olympics came to Los Angeles. <v Patt Morrison>You've sort of grown up under the umbrella of multiculturalism in Los Angeles. <v Patt Morrison>But Rosario, you're from Pico Union. How did it make you feel to turn on television and <v Patt Morrison>see white people who had never been to your part of town before, showing up the morning <v Patt Morrison>after to pitch in? <v Rosario Gutierrez>I have very strong feelings about that. And I know the day,

<v Rosario Gutierrez>maybe the day after the riot on Thursday, I got a call from my brother and my sister. <v Rosario Gutierrez>They were very upset. They said Rosario it's so dark outside because of the fires <v Rosario Gutierrez>and, you know, all that kind of stuff. <v Rosario Gutierrez>And I felt really bad for them because I was at Occidental College, Eagle Rock, <v Rosario Gutierrez>in safe room and my family was at home in the Pico Union area. <v Rosario Gutierrez>And people were stealing. People were burning <v Rosario Gutierrez>places down, and there needs to be rebuilding, that's for sure, but it <v Rosario Gutierrez>can't just be rebuilding. You can't just say I'm going to go out there and clean up <v Rosario Gutierrez>when that's all it's gonna be. How do- you c- that doesn't mean anything if nothing <v Rosario Gutierrez>comes of it. It doesn't mean anything. You can't say I'm going to make myself feel better <v Rosario Gutierrez>by going up and cleaning up and helping out on this. <v Rosario Gutierrez>That's a step. But there's gotta be more to it than that. <v Patt Morrison>Okay, even if this was sincere, how long is it going to last? <v Teri Martin>I think personally, I think it was a nice gesture, but it was too little, too late. <v Teri Martin>They shoulda did this back in the 1960s when the Watts riots happened.

<v Teri Martin>They shoulda came then, cleaned up then, helped the political system work then. <v Teri Martin>It was too long. <v Patt Morrison>Michael. <v Michael Thomas>I can- them coming out, if they continue to come out, they continue to give support, I <v Michael Thomas>can deal with it. But if you're gonna to come out and- and I respect that, that's- that's <v Michael Thomas>a good gesture. But if you're not going to come out and continue to help- continue with <v Michael Thomas>the struggle, then what's the use? <v Michael Thomas>What's the use to me putting a Band-Aid on your wound if I'm not going to nurture it till <v Michael Thomas>it's healing, until it's completely healed, until you're out and doing <v Michael Thomas>what you should be doing? <v Patt Morrison>Do any of you have faith that the government's going to come through with the money it's <v Patt Morrison>promised? Hector. <v Hector Salazar>No, not really, and I think one of the most important points that needs to <v Hector Salazar>be made, the- there can be no healing until there is actual justice. <v Hector Salazar>You don't stick a 12 inch dagger in my gut and then tell me to heal. <v Hector Salazar>You know, growing up in uh Los Angeles, there's nothing multi-cultural about it. <v Hector Salazar>This country is- is a white supremist, capitalist, uh rich people's dictatorship. <v Hector Salazar>That's all it is. [laughing and applause] <v Patt Morrison>Is this cliches or is this legitimate? <v Michael Thomas>It's legitimate? But you could look around and see it.

<v Tawana Caldwell>The only thing the government is doing is they going through all of these procedures to <v Tawana Caldwell>win votes. All these people are coming out doing things so they could win votes when <v Tawana Caldwell>it's time for election. <v Tawana Caldwell>The President- the- everybody, the new people, the people you never heard about everybody <v Tawana Caldwell>is coming out to get votes. And uh Gates, he could care less because he <v Tawana Caldwell>fixin to leave anyway, and so he- hey, let em burn the city, let the new chief take over, <v Tawana Caldwell>let em, you know, let em start from scratch. <v Patt Morrison>Let's ask about- William al- <v William Pedranti>I wanted to say uh as we look to the future for- for answers and to- and to look for help <v William Pedranti>into the situation, I- all I can stress is that in my opinions we shouldn't look for the <v William Pedranti>government. I think they- they failed us periodically over time. <v William Pedranti>I think that George Bush doesn't have the answer. I don't think Governor Wilson has the <v William Pedranti>answer. I don't think Mayor Tom Bradley answer. <v William Pedranti>I don't think all these politicians who come out and say they support it to try to gain <v William Pedranti>more votes. I don't think Ira Reiner by all of a sudden saying, oh, let's convict <v William Pedranti>Laurence Powell because he's got a tough primary coming up June 2nd, his butt's on the <v William Pedranti>line, that if he doesn't come out strong, and the thing is, it's all political. <v William Pedranti>And all I want to stress is Thomas Jefferson said something that I think, that one of the <v William Pedranti>founding fathers of this nation is important, it says- he says if we can prevent

<v William Pedranti>government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of <v William Pedranti>them, they must become happy. And I think what he was trying to say is the government <v William Pedranti>cannot and will not, and as hard as they will try, will not come up with a solution. <v William Pedranti>I think the solution lies with the people because this is not we the government, this is <v William Pedranti>we the people. We must look- <v Patt Morrison>[everyone talking over one another] Alright William, you mentioned- William- no, William. You <v Patt Morrison>mentioned the name- excuse me, Sarah. <v William Pedranti>Without Thomas Jefferson, none of us would be here. <v Patt Morrison>You mentioned the name Thomas Jefferson. <v Patt Morrison>Please, just a minute. <v Patt Morrison>You mentioned Thomas Jefferson, you said the master. <v Patt Morrison>All right. You've got an election coming up in three weeks. <v Patt Morrison>Do you vote? Do you not vote? What are you gonna do? <v Patt Morrison>Try- Troy why did you react like that to what he said? <v Troy Buckner>Well, about Thomas Jefferson, you also got to remember another thing he wrote or in the <v Troy Buckner>Declaration of Independence um or in the Constitution, actually, is that we have <v Troy Buckner>the right to rebel against an oppressive government. <v Troy Buckner>And that's what we did. And as for the election, the election, people need to, <v Troy Buckner>you know, you got the less of two evils. <v Troy Buckner>It really not going to matter. We're gonna get killed either way, whoever comes in. <v Troy Buckner>We need to write in or we need to use a third party.

<v Troy Buckner>We need to make a point. <v Teri Martin>I have, you know, I- I work for a political consultant, so I'm really into this, you <v Teri Martin>know, campaign this year. And people in the community really do not understand that <v Teri Martin>they must go out and vote, if for anything Proposition F, because they do not <v Teri Martin>understand that Daryl Gates- <v Patt Morrison>That's the police reform initiative. <v Teri Martin>-will not be out without Proposition F. <v Teri Martin>He can keep on backing it up and, you know, saying I'm not going to resign till next year <v Teri Martin>if he wants to without proposition F. And one more thing I have to say, one policy I do <v Teri Martin>agree with is the policy not to rebuild pawnshops and liquor stores in South <v Teri Martin>Central. I definitely agree with that. <v Thomas Hong>Wait. Okay, wait. Can I comment on that proposition F? <v Thomas Hong>OK. A lot of people are satisfied with that, and that's where they stop. <v Thomas Hong>They say if I register to vote and I actually go out there and vote, everything will be <v Thomas Hong>fine in this community. But you got to remember the civil rights movement in the 60s. <v Thomas Hong>They didn't just stay home and say, okay, let's do- let's have a representative do all <v Thomas Hong>the work. They went out there and actually pressured a politician, pressured the city <v Thomas Hong>government, and the federal, and the um- <v Hugh Hewitt>And it was also nonviolent, Thomas.

<v Thomas Hong>Exactly, it was not. We have to use other avenues here. <v Thomas Hong>We can't just go out and vote. ?inaudible? <v Ruben Martinez>And the other thing about the civil rights movement in the 60s, is that it was mostly a <v Ruben Martinez>black and white thing. But in this room today, we're black, Asian, Latino, Anglo, <v Ruben Martinez>all cultures. Is anybody here hopeful at all? <v Ruben Martinez>I hear an incredible amount of pessimism and cynicism. <v Ruben Martinez>Is anybody hopeful about really rebuilding the city or is everybody gonna move out of <v Ruben Martinez>L.A.? <v Tristen Sotomayor>Yes I'm hopeful. <v Patt Morrison>Rosario. <v Ruben Martinez>Tristen is hopeful. <v Tristen Sotomayor>This is how we're gonna to do it. We have to start leadership at the top. <v Tristen Sotomayor>I mean, it has to come from the top. <v Ruben Martinez>But there is no leadership at the top. <v Ruben Martinez>You guys agree there's no leadership. <v Tristen Sotomayor>Well we- [everyone talking] I know. But- but- but we have to empower ourselves. <v Tristen Sotomayor>Why do you think we have elections? If no one is voting, if no one's voting the right man <v Tristen Sotomayor>in, how are we gonna get represented? <v Tristen Sotomayor>Vote for a democrat ?inaudible? <v Patt Morrison>The right- the right man or the right woman. The point is, somebody is going to win this <v Patt Morrison>election. Rosario. <v Rosario Gutierrez>Well, I'm really tired of people treating this episode as- <v Rosario Gutierrez>as just one single episode. It's been going on for such a long time. <v Rosario Gutierrez>It's- it's- this is kind of like the- what broke the camel's back. <v Rosario Gutierrez>But this rage, this- this rage has been going on for a long time.

<v Rosario Gutierrez>This isn't one episode. The killing, the dying, the looting, everything <v Rosario Gutierrez>has been going on for a long time. <v Rosario Gutierrez>And until we realize that and realize that this isn't the beginning or the end, <v Rosario Gutierrez>then we're not gonna get anywhere. And it's not just this episode, it's been going on for <v Rosario Gutierrez>a long time. People need to realize that. <v Patt Morrison>On that point- [audience speaking] on that- on that point, when we talk about generation <v Patt Morrison>to generation transmission of racism and everybody thinks I can change, I <v Patt Morrison>can be different. We've heard of the kind of names that are being called just among your <v Patt Morrison>own generation. How do you break out of that pattern and make it not happen for <v Patt Morrison>yourselves? Michael. <v Michael Thomas>Well what you're ask for is a solution. It has to start- <v Patt Morrison>You're right, we're asking for a solution. <v Michael Thomas>-it has to start from the government, but not neglecting that it has to- <v Patt Morrison>But you don't trust the government. <v Michael Thomas>But see, I'm not neglecting that it has to start with us. <v Michael Thomas>We- we do have to resume responsibility for our actions. <v Michael Thomas>But I'm saying i- many factors play a part in this. <v Michael Thomas>I'm not saying it's the government by itself and boom, that's it. <v Michael Thomas>I'm saying many things have to come together in order for us just to begin <v Michael Thomas>the process of healing. I'm not saying-.

<v Ruben Martinez>John Hong, Pat. <v John Hong>See, I agree with him, but looting and rioting is not the way to begin or end. <v Audience member>Well it got us somewhere [everyone talking]. <v Audience member>Bush wouldnta came down here if we didn't um gain something. We did gain something. <v Hector Salazar>This government is worthless. This system is worthless. <v Hector Salazar>The answer is not in the government. The answer is in the power of the people. <v Hector Salazar>The only solution is revolution, organized revolution. <v Hugh Hewitt>Hedyeh. <v Hedyeh Melamed>I just wanna say education. <v Hugh Hewitt>Hedyeh is saying education. <v Hedyeh Melamed>I just think- I think it really, really starts of something we really need to deal with. <v Hedyeh Melamed>It really starts um in high school, and if we don't stop the ignorance and the racial <v Hedyeh Melamed>ignorance in high school, in my school about a year ago, we had a hate letter given out <v Hedyeh Melamed>to 600 Hispanic students um saying these racial slurs, a whole letter given out to <v Hedyeh Melamed>every parent. And it was like a shock to everyone because we didn't know if it was one <v Hedyeh Melamed>white person or if it was a group of white people. And I think the ignorance starts off <v Hedyeh Melamed>in high school and these are the people who are going to be running our government in 10 <v Hedyeh Melamed>years. [everyone talking]. <v Patt Morrison>I have a question- I have a question for all of you. At the beginning of this, Rodney

<v Patt Morrison>King said, can we all get along? <v Patt Morrison>At the end of it, President Bush said, we cannot let our diversity destroy us. <v Patt Morrison>What, if anything, do we have to give up in order to be able to say yes to Rodney King's <v Patt Morrison>question, to be able to get along? <v Michael Thomas>The rich have to give up wanting to stay rich. <v Michael Thomas>You got to give the people down in the ghetto a chance to come up. <v Michael Thomas>You can't continue to suppress and suppress and suppress a people because you're afraid <v Michael Thomas>that they may become financially able and stable and replace you. <v Patt Morrison>Jason Spencer. <v Jason Sperber>OK, look, this- what we're doing right now is what has to continue. <v Jason Sperber>We're talking. There's all different people sitting here right now talking. <v Jason Sperber>But how long is this gonna continue? We can't just leave this room right now and forget <v Jason Sperber>about what happened or not talk to each other. <v Jason Sperber>I mean, people are talking about education. People are talking about communication. <v Jason Sperber>Well, we have to put our money where our mouths are and start doing something and <v Jason Sperber>?inaudible?. <v Ruben Martinez>How- how do you rebuild the trust? How do you rebuild the trust in the mixed communities <v Ruben Martinez>of- of Pico Union and ?inaudible? where blacks and Latinos and Asians are together, how <v Ruben Martinez>do you rebuild that trust?

<v Speaker>What trust was there in the first place? <v Sarah Chee>We have to be- we have to rebuild the trust within ourselves. I mean, we are- we are the <v Sarah Chee>youth right now. We are the ones who are going to have to live with the decisions that we <v Sarah Chee>make because we have the power to change it. <v Sarah Chee>You know, when it's 20 years down the line, you know, the people- other- the people that <v Sarah Chee>are in power right now, they're not gonna care. But what- we're going to have to live <v Sarah Chee>with what happens because our children are gonna have to deal with it. <v Sarah Chee>And I think that starts with education. Yeah, education is important. <v Sarah Chee>But where it is, how can we change the education system? <v Sarah Chee>Through the political system. And how do we change the political system? <v Sarah Chee>By people joining together and putting pressure on the system, not just by yourself, not <v Sarah Chee>just by your own ethnicity, but together, all people of color, everyone who cares. <v Ruben Martinez>Joe. <v Joe Piechowski>I just want to comment on something I think that he said before. <v Joe Piechowski>He said that we need to- we need to rebuild by having the rich give up their- <v Joe Piechowski>give up their property and thing. <v Michael Thomas>I say- I said getting richer. I'm saying allow us to <v Michael Thomas>with- with our ability to make it. <v Michael Thomas>It's like every time you take a step, you're put back two steps. <v Michael Thomas>OK. I'm going to college now. But look what I'm say- I'm going to college now and I'm <v Michael Thomas>trying to further my education. But what good does that really do me?

<v Michael Thomas>And this is what people are saying. People are looking at this and they're going what <v Michael Thomas>good does it do me if as soon as I get up there, they're going to knock me back down <v Michael Thomas>because of my color, that's what they're saying. [everyone talking] <v Ruben Martinez>Rodney Prince. Rodney. [everyone still talking] Rodney. <v Rodney Prince>Exactly. I believe it starts with the personal healing and then it moves on to community <v Rodney Prince>healing where we find a connecteniffs- connectiveness amongst us. <v Rodney Prince>And from that point, if we continue to try and form organizations and alliances that are <v Rodney Prince>going to compel this intransigent government to make changes, we're never going anywhere. <v Rodney Prince>We realize from this eruption that we have the power. <v Rodney Prince>Now all we need is the consciousness to move on from this [continues talking as Morrison starts]. <v Patt Morrison>Some of you told us that you date interracially, and I'm wondering if this is part of the <v Patt Morrison>way to solve this, if you go from the ground up and coming to know people that intimately <v Patt Morrison>and that closely. I think Jason is- <v Jason Sperber>Okay look, we're talking about crossing boundaries, crossing lines. <v Jason Sperber>I'm mixed. I'm half white, half Asian. <v Jason Sperber>OK. And it wasn't too long ago, it was 1960, it was <v Jason Sperber>as late as 1966, 1967, that interracial marriage <v Jason Sperber>was outlawed in lots of states in this country.

<v Jason Sperber>Now, look, I mean, if we're going to start doing anything, we have to start getting <v Jason Sperber>along. I mean, I wouldn't be here if somebody hadn't gone up <v Jason Sperber>and tried to change something, you know? <v Jason Sperber>And I just- interracial dating, getting to know people of different cultures, you <v Jason Sperber>know, we have to start communicating. <v Patt Morrison>I have to ask you the question that everyone in Los Angeles has been asking himself and <v Patt Morrison>herself for these last few weeks. <v Patt Morrison>Are you going to get out? And do you think there's any hope here for your kids in <v Patt Morrison>staying? <v Thomas Hong>Let me -can I have a quick comment on- just like what you're talking about, if- even if <v Thomas Hong>you are educated and you go out there and if they reject you by the color of your skin, <v Thomas Hong>that's something that you cannot, you know, personally go- you go over cause that's just <v Thomas Hong>the forces that we have on us- <v Hugh Hewitt>Okay, but Thomas, are you going to stay or are you leaving? Patt's question. <v Thomas Hong>I'm- I cannot leave that situation. <v Thomas Hong>Our parents cannot suddenly close up shop and move to Beverly Hills and open up a new <v Thomas Hong>store there. You have to understand some forces that keep us there. <v Thomas Hong>And then once we're there, they're gonna keep us fighting. <v Patt Morrison>Rosario, if you have the choice.

<v Rosario Gutierrez>There is no way that I'm leaving. <v Rosario Gutierrez>I- I believe that I'm in college for a reason. <v Rosario Gutierrez>That reason is to be a teacher, to be a teacher in an inner city <v Rosario Gutierrez>school, to do my part, to do my part in what I believe should happen <v Rosario Gutierrez>and to make the changes- to help make the changes that I believe need to happen <v Rosario Gutierrez>individually and then hopefully the community cause I think there's a big problem with <v Rosario Gutierrez>community. I think um individualism is is stressed so much that we forget about <v Rosario Gutierrez>other people. <v Hugh Hewitt>Tawana. <v Patt Morrison>Tawana, you have a child. <v Tawana Caldwell>Yeah, I have a um- a 7 month old. <v Tawana Caldwell>And I feel that the best thing for her, for me to do for her is to get <v Tawana Caldwell>organized, number one, cause with n- with no organization, we're not gonna move <v Tawana Caldwell>nowhere, no matter how many people or how hard you try. <v Tawana Caldwell>And the second thing is um, you know, we do need to come together more as <v Tawana Caldwell>the different races and all of that, but it have to take place within your own race. <v Tawana Caldwell>You have to become- know the people of your own race because they feudin too. <v Tawana Caldwell>It's just as worse with the same race as it is with another race. <v Teri Martin>You know, I have- I have to to stay in my community.

<v Teri Martin>Seeing what happened after the Watts riots in Central Ave, you go, you drive up Central <v Teri Martin>Ave right now, you see all the places that just left the community, and that's what hurt <v Teri Martin>us. That's why there are businesses that are not black owned in that community. <v Teri Martin>If those black businesses woulda came back and rebuilt, we would have- we would have a <v Teri Martin>black community. We would have economic power. <v Teri Martin>So we as blacks need to get back into our community and build our businesses up. <v Patt Morrison>Is anybody planning to leave? <v Patt Morrison>Have you talked to people who are planning to leave? <v John Hong>I mean, what do you think they're leaving for? <v John Hong>They're scared. <v Hugh Hewitt>Are you? Are you scared? Are you gonna go? ?inaudible? <v John Hong>Well my father's store is on Western and we were up there defending the store. <v John Hong>And we're not gonna leave. We're not going to drop everything that we worked for for <v John Hong>years and years. <v Hugh Hewitt>Good question. Is anyone gonna leave? Patt asked it. <v Michael Thomas>But some people are leaving, but what's the use of leaving a struggle and you haven't <v Michael Thomas>even got the victory out of it. I mean, here you- I mean, people are talking about <v Michael Thomas>leaving, but yet the problem still remains and you're gonna still be faced with it no <v Michael Thomas>matter where you go. There's still gonna be racism, there's still gonna be classism and <v Michael Thomas>these factors will still remain. You cannot leave a problem and expect to go somewhere

<v Michael Thomas>else and not still deal with it. <v Patt Morrison>That's going to have to be the last word for now. <v Patt Morrison>But you have been privileged to hear nothing less than voices from the future of our <v Patt Morrison>city. We thank them for joining us tonight. <v Patt Morrison>We thank you, for Ruben, for Hugh, I'm Patt Morrison for Life and Times [Tracy Chapman's <v Patt Morrison>"Across the Lines" begins]. <v Narrator>This program was made possible by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation, <v Narrator>which is dedicated to the development of an informed California citizenry. <v Narrator>Special support for this program was provided by the Los Angeles County Department of <v Narrator>Health Services and the U.S. <v Narrator>Centers for Disease Control. <v Speaker>[Tracy Chapman's "Across the Lines"]